Gomer's Troubles
by FonzFan82
Summary: Gomer's cousin, Goober is shot while in a holdup. Gomer was suspected of the murder even if he didn't do it. Would Andy and Barney solve the case and clear Gomer's name? Find out!
1. Gomer, the Suspect

Note: All characters you recognize are not mine. I would like to thank LoveofVelma for helping me with ideas and coming up with the title.

Around nine in the morning, Goober Pyle, was on his way to start his day at the garage. His cousin, Gomer Pyle had been home from the Marines about five years or so now. He'd hoped he would find Gomer. He was wrong – Gomer was not around in sight. He thought he would get a head start on the cars that were waiting to be fixed.

About five or ten minutes later, Goober thought he heard Gomer pull in. Again, no sign of Gomer. He saw the car headed his way who were two men in the front seat. He didn't give them a close look for description. He saw the driver and passenger sure didn't look friendly. He wondered what they were doing here.

Once he fast – walked in the gas station, he headed straight to the telephone. He thought it made sense to call the sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, Andy Taylor. Andy had been sheriff here in Mayberry for several years, along with his deputy, Barney Fife. Goober wasn't able to tell the operator what was going on to put Andy through. It was a little bit too late.

Goober thought he heard a gunshot. That's when Gomer drove up. Goober saw the look on his cousin's face – fear. Gomer got out of the car just in time before the driver pulled his gun out and pull the trigger. The passenger saw Gomer had a really frightened look. Goober turned around, seeing the driver and his passenger, a few feet behind him. Of course, they didn't know Goober or who he was. The driver and passenger looked like they could be related or just friends, but he couldn't be positive.

The driver, the one with the gun, didn't bother using the old line, "Put your hands up!" He thought it made snese to surprise Goober without saying the old line. Gomer was watching with his frightened look. Worried with Goober when he thought he heard a gun fire after returning from calling Andy and Barney.

Gomer had this feeling these crooks wanted money from him and Goober but the passenger and driver decided not to ask but they did decide that they didn't think Goober and Gomer had enough money to give them. When he reached the sheriff's office, Barney was out, so Sheriff Andy Taylor picked up.

"Sheriff's office," he said professionaly.

"Hi, Andy."

"Gomer? What are you doing by calling me?" Andy asked.

"Andy, you wouldn't believe what happened just now," Gomer said.

Andy could tell by the tone of Gomer's vouce, he sounded a bit shocked.

"You sound like you're scared, Gomer. Now tell me what happened."

"It's kind of hard to explain, Andy. Maybe it'll be easier to tell in person."

"All right, Gomer."

Gomer put the phone back in the cradle.

Once he came back out, the driver and passenger were already gone. He saw Goober lying on the ground, covered with blood. Barney came back shortly.

"Hi, Barney," Andy greeted the deputy.

"Hi, Andy," Barney said opening the sheriff office door and he walked in.

"Barney, we need to go to the filling station now. Gomer just called and reported a holdup. We have to go and find out what happened," Andy told him.

"Ange, I just got here."

Andy looked right at Barney, telling him silently he should tag along.

"Don't tell me, Andy. I'm coming," Barney said as Andy nodded.

"All right. This better be important," Barney told Andy.

He and Andy took the sheriff's car.

"Okay. This doesn't sound good when you mentioned 'holdup,'" Barney remarked.

"I know."

The three looked on the ground – lying there was once the body of Goober Pyle!


	2. The Town Talk

Gomer was out of the hospital from all this shocking news he saw about Cousin Goober. The doctor told him to take it easy for awhile. Gomer was still in shock about all the events that happened yesterday. He would need a lot of time to heal from Goober's death. One thing he did know: he didn't get a chance to say good – bye!

Barney was asked from Andy to pick up Gomer at the hospital since he had to be in Mount Pilot for jury duty that day. Barney had acted as sheriff a few times, so he knew the drill. Barney waited to pick up Gomer a while after Andy had left for Mount Pilot.

"You take it easy now, Gomer. Andy and I will try to look into this whole thing," Barney reassured him.

"Barney, he died too soon so I never had the chance to say good – bye," Gomer said sadly.

"We understand, Gomer," Barney said as he took a couple turns to Gomer's place. The recent turn Barney did was a left. Gomer lived alone, but Gomer had an apartment. All Barney did was stay in the squad car while he watched Gomer walk in and closed the door.

Once Barney drove away from the apartment, he drove back to the sheriff's office. Before Barney could walk inside, several Mayberry residents walked up to him.

"Barney, is this true Gomer was in the hospital? Did Goober really die?" they had asked several questions all at once and Barney couldn't answer everything all at once.

"We're not really sure if Goober died, but we do know he was shot. Andy and I will look into this investigation after Andy returns from Mount Pilot. We are not one hundred percent sure if Goober was murdered or not yet. You all will find out soon enough."

Another resident asked, "Why would this happen to Mayberry?"

"That's what Sheriff Taylor and I will have to look in," Barney said.

That's when he finally walked into the sheriff's office with the crowd still talking about Gomer and Goober.

That night at home, Aunt Bee and Opie began asking questions on the murder.

"We still don't know much of anything yet, Aunt Bee, Op. We'll have to help Gomer prove he didn't do it."

"Do you believe Gomer, Andy?" Aunt Bee asked.

"Of course I do. I know he would never do such thing to a relative."

"Pa's right, Aunt Bee."

"Of course we all know Goober and Gomer are innocent," Aunt Bee said.

"Right, Aunt Bee. We'll just have to see what happens when Barney and I start working on it."


	3. Barney Gets Carried Away

The next morning, Barney met Andy at the courthouse around eight o'clock. Andy was there with Gomer. Gomer had been behind bars since the day before. Gomer kept thinking he was right he was not guilty of committing a crime of Goober. Andy really did believe him. Gomer always knew Andy would believe him from the start but he knew for sure Barney was different. Sometimes Barney could get carried away.

"All right, Gomer. Spit it out. Tell me and Andy you were the one who had this thing all set up," Barney said.

"All I know is when I got to the filling station, the crooks were already there. Goober had this look on his face telling you how frightened he was. I didn't blame him one bit. When I showed up, the crooks had their gun out at Cousin Goober. I didn't know what to do so all I could think of was to call you and now I'm here at the courthouse."

Barney walked back to Andy.

"You know what, Ange? I think there's more to this than meets the eye," Barney whispered.

"Maybe so, Barn, but I do believe Gomer is innocent.

"Innocent nothing. I'll keep working on him, Ange."

Gomer was overhearing the hushed conversation. He knew Barney was going to get carried away sooner or later. He hoped Barney would think of him as innocent once they got deeper in the case more. Gomer had a feeling he was telling the truth all along.

After hearing the hushed conversation, Gomer decided he'd speak up once again. Gomer cleared his throat to break the silence.

"Yes, Gomer?" Barney asked.

Just before Gomer could tell them anything else, the courthouse door opened. Gomer didn't recognize who the person was. He thought more of the event that happened with him and Goober at the garage while Andy talked with the man who walked in.

The man was tall, gray – haired, fifty – ish, wore blue jeans, a baseball cap (he guessed it was a baseball team from another state but couldn't be certain), white socks and black shoes, glasses, and a business shirt. Gomer didn't know what the man did for a living but he could tell it was businesslike.

"May I help you with anything?" Andy asked.

"I came by to send you this," the man said.

"And your name is?" Barney asked.

He pulled a black wallet out of his pants pocket. He opened the wallet and handed Barney a piece of paper.

"I am Richard Saunders. I came all the way here from Mount Pilot. I was told to give you this," Mr. Saunders said.

"A note? Thank you, Mr. Saunders. We appreciate it. I'll give the sheriff a call in a few minutes and see what he wants done."

Richard thanked Andy and said good day to Andy and Barney once he slammed the door behind him.

"I've never seen that guy before, Ange."

"Neither have I, Barney. I'll call the sheriff in Mount Pilot later. First, I want to hear more about yesterday."

"Andy, I didn't do it. I've told you and Barney all I know. When I was making the call to you, I heard a gunshot and after getting off with you, I was just in time to see this happen. I would never make a commit murder on my cousin."

"Of course you won't, Gomer. You're family, so that's personal from those crooks that came by yesterday."

"I know, Andy, but that's something they don't know about me and Goober. I don't know why they would want to kill Goober if they didn't know who he was."

"You're right, Gomer."

Gomer watched as Barney put on his light brown police cap on his head. Of course, the uniform matched the cap.

"Where are you going, Barney?"

"Patrol."

"I thought we were going to talk with Gomer about yesterday."

"You talk with him and see what you can find out," Barney said, grabbing the key chain they kept for the squad car and slammed the door.

"So much for that, Gomer."

"I know. I have no idea why I have to be here behind bars if I did nothing wrong."

"Like it says, Gomer, guilty proven innocent."

"I understand, Andy, but still it doesn't make sense to me if I have to be here and the crooks are on the loose."

"I believe you, Gomer. For now we want you to stay out of the filling station while this case is in progress. You understand?"

"Yes, Andy."

Gomer was not sure how long he would be out of work but he knew it would be for a while but he would see what Barney and Andy thought of telling him.

Barney came back shortly. He walked in, taking the cap off and hanging it on the rack.

"That was fast," Gomer said.

"Who told you to speak?" Barney asked.

"Nobody."

"You only speak when somebody tells you to," Barney said strictly to him.

Andy didn't like what was going on with Barney today.

"Barney, we don't tell our Mayberry citizens when they can and can't speak."

"When it's a crime like this, Ange, we will."

Andy still didn't comment so he stayed quiet.

"Barney, this is a free country. We're able to do what we can," Gomer told him.

"It may be a free country, but with a murder case like this, that's different," Barney returned.

"You will soon find out I've told the truth all along, Barney, then you'll prove yourself sorry."

Andy didn't want to get into this argument.

"Barney, stop. You're getting carried away," Andy told him.

"I don't care. Gomer can stay here at the courthouse until we find out who murdered Goober," Barney said.

Gomer didn't say anything.


	4. The Mount Pilot Visit

Waters did not reply.

"Since this happened just the day before, nobody has seen the crooks. We sure would like to see for ourselves who the crooks were. The witness and victim were involved in a holdup. That's all I know for now."

"Holdups aren't easy, that's for sure. I've stopped several of them. Mount Pilot hasn't had any holdups since the past year or so."

Waters now put his glasses on. That's when Andy and Sheriff Waters looked out of the now dirty window. The wind had stopped while the sun went down and the sky turned dark. The two men jumped from their seats when they saw a clap of thunder.

"Looks like it's starting to rain, Andy. If I were you, I'd plan to head back home. Do you want us to help you with this case?" Sheriff Waters asked as he got up to walk Andy out of the door.

"I would give it a shot, Jim. If you spot something, be sure to call me."

"Will do, Andy. Maybe you could ask the witness a bit more about what happened during this holdup you mentioned."

"Barney and I already have asked a couple of questions already, but we plan to keep trying."

"Good luck to you too, Andy."

"Thanks, Jim. I'll hear from you," Andy said as he slammed the door behind himself.


	5. Gomer's Thought

While Andy was out, the sheriff's phone began to ring.

"Sheriff's office," Barney said professionally.

"He ain't here now. He went out to Mount Pilot but I think he should be here shortly," Barney reassured the caller.

Gomer was listening to the conversation, but he didn't quite catch the caller's name but whoever it was, the name probably wouldn't make any sense or meaning to him.

While Barney left to do patrol after taking the message, Gomer got to thinking on why Barney suspected him as the primary suspect of his cousin, Goober.

Gomer tried to look back the last time he and Goober got together. He knew it was almost two weeks ago or something but he really didn't get a chance to say good – bye. Gomer fell asleep quickly. This was a dream so he hoped it wouldn't be true when he woke up.

He was closing up for the weekend when he found his car looking like it wasn't itself. Of course it wasn't Cousin Goober, but Goober had left home about fifteen minutes ago. He didn't hear anybody arrive to have his car dented with the fender bender. He wondered why this made no noise when he was actually in the back room? That made no sense at all. He wondered if it was somebody he and Goober knew since Mayberry itself was known as a friendly town.

_As always, Gomer had been the innocent one even if he didn't do anything wrong or get involved. Barney was on the scene once he called in about his car. Barney somehow did not bring a bullet with him like he usually did, but this time he only brought along the pistol. The pistol looked like it was already loaded but Barney was always the goofy one who would waste his only bullet away after one shot and Andy had to take it away from him._

_It made Gomer thinking: Who would do such a thing to my car? Who would want me to have dents on the fender bender when I wasn't around to witness this? This makes no sense at all. This time Barney arrived without Andy._

_"Gomer, we got a call at the sheriff's office about some shooting."_

_"Barney, I swear I didn't hear a thing. I was not aware of anything so I couldn't answer any of your questions. Sorry."_

_"You will have to tell me what you do and what you don't know. I'd like to hear your story. I'd like Andy to hear it too," Barney said once he handcuffed Gomer._

_Gomer did nothing wrong to have him handcuffed by Barney. He still didn't get to what Barney was gettng to but he'd find out. Once he and Barney arrived at the sheriff's office, Barney put the pistol on Andy's desk and opened the jail cell to lock him up. True, the sheriff's office in Mayberry had not changed. It had only two cells and that was it. People who would stop in to visit they would always say this office was not a real jail. That's what it was like in today's time since a small town sheriff really didn't need a fancy jail like the cities did._

_After Barney took the handcuffs off him, he sat down on the bed in his cell. The bed was not comfortable, but he stayed on the bed. He watched as Barney put the handcuffs away and the key back in its proper place. True, prisoners who stayed here were allowed to lock themselves in and out. Gomer had never done such a thing so he let Barney and Andy do it._

_"Okay, Gomer. Tell me what you know about what happened," Barney told him once Andy arrived two minutes later._

_"What are you doing with Gomer in the cell, Barney? Did Gomer do anything wrong to be locked in the cell?" Andy asked._

_"Well, Andy, it went like this. We got a call not too long ago and someone reported something from the garage. I went over there and found Gomer by his car. I think he knows something he's not telling us."_

_"Come on, Barney. That's crazy."_

_Andy opened the cell and let Gomer go._

_"Thanks, Andy," Gomer said thankfully._

_"You're welcome, Gomer. Barney, please go on. I want to know exactly why you locked Gomer up."_

_"Andy, the caller reported a shooting at the filling station. I found him outside by his own car."_

_"And what else happened?" Andy asked._

_"Then Barney comes along and handcuffs me, Andy. I did nothing wrong to be here in the jail's cell. I was ready to close up shop for the day and I found my car dented with the fender bender. I heard no gunshot."_

That's when Gomer got to thinking: Could the driver and passenger be the ones who dented his fender bender? Why didn't he notice the car had dents when Goober was shot? He'd have to check the car out once he was able to be set free. He thought he'd mention this to Andy and Barney.

Andy returned from Mount Pilot about five minutes later. Andy walked in the sheriff's office, seeing the jail was still the same when he first left.

"Andy, I've been thinking," Gomer spoke up once Andy sat at his desk.

"Yes, Gomer?" he asked, giving Gomer eye contact.

"I have thought that when Goober and I were involved with that holdup, I did not notice my car was in a mess. I thought I'd take a look at it."

"What do you mean it was a mess?" Andy asked with interest.

"I somehow got to thinking my car was involved after the holdup the day before Goober's murder. It was when Goober left to go home for the day and I did not hear anyone shooting my car with dents on the fender bender."

"It'll be something to check out. Thanks for the tip," Andy said.

"You're welcome, Andy."


End file.
